I feel like Homa's competiton isn't TCP, but instead is SCTP.
I know that SCTP isn't very popular, but it is an old standard and solves the ahead-of-line blocking issue. Linux does support SCTP, and maybe more expensive routers support it as well (honestly, I haven't experimented much with SCTP on networks...).
SCTP is built on top of IP. So the main issue with SCTP is firewall / NAT / etc. etc. which are built on top of TCP / UDP instead. Homa, being an alternative protocol, would be very similar to SCTP (in that routers wouldn't work on it), except its decades younger.
Didn't IPv6 basically eliminate the NAT problem in DCs? Plus SCTP has actual router support in respectable routers. What SCTP lacks is userland support, something I dearly want too...
I know that SCTP isn't very popular, but it is an old standard and solves the ahead-of-line blocking issue. Linux does support SCTP, and maybe more expensive routers support it as well (honestly, I haven't experimented much with SCTP on networks...).
SCTP is built on top of IP. So the main issue with SCTP is firewall / NAT / etc. etc. which are built on top of TCP / UDP instead. Homa, being an alternative protocol, would be very similar to SCTP (in that routers wouldn't work on it), except its decades younger.